Pink Training has been happening almost as long as Belfast Gay Pride which is quite something for the student world, where corporate memory is necessarily brief.

My student days in Dublin were gay enough but not in organisational terms. I was at the university of life, with too many evenings spent in the famous, indeed unequalled, Dublin gay bar, Bartley Dunne’s, in the late 1960s.

It was only after gay liberation that our anger and indeed rage was channelled into groups and meetings, by which time I was back living in Belfast. QUB was very much in the vanguard having hosted a Gay Liberation Society from about 1972. One of the founders was the theatre director Andy Hinds from Derry. It was a curious mixture of town and gown that worked. relationships were intense too.

Indeed GLS, by 1975, had a grant and offices in an unused building round the corner in 4 University Street. Best of all we organised and ran discos in the Queen’s Students Union which became famous in the worst of times in this city, for fun and dancing. We were so popular gays were in danger of being outnumbered by straights.

Then we knuckled down to thirty years of equality campaigning not least by means of my successful Strasbourg case, funded in part by those very same discos.

The Northern Ireland Gay Rights Association (NIGRA) was born, and Cara-Friend (CF), the befriending and information organisation. Both exist to this day.

Our twilight existence where we were getting funding and support – despite being criminals, indeed part of a conspiracy, came to an abrupt end in the great police round-up of 1976. All male NIGRA and CF committee members were arrested although none – after months of waiting – were ever charged.

The consequent case at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg took six long grinding years before we won in 1981. A year later the government was forced to decriminalise in a law put through the House of Commons late at night against the wishes of all NI political parties (and shamefully even gay Unionist MPs I later discovered).

This was a European first and laid the groundwork for a host of later successes at the Court, not least in the south of Ireland where we eased the path for David Norris and for Alexander Modinos in Cyprus. And it was even quoted in the recent US Supreme Court Texas sodomy case.

My lawyer antagonists at the Court prospered. The UK’s lead barrister against me, in time, became the President of the Strasbourg Court, while Sir Brian Kerr was to become the NI Lord Chief Justice and now sits on the UK Supreme Court.

But we won. We beat them. A successful group effort in Belfast and beyond made the difference.

It remains unquestionable and remarkable – and maybe it tells you something – that the two best-known, and most written about, gay characters in the last 100 years were both Irish, and both went to jail, although only one to the scaffold.

Roger Casement, whose biography I have written, was brought up partly in Antrim, going to school in Ballymena. He became an Irish separatist and helped found and arm the Irish Volunteers (Óglaigh na hÉireann), the forerunner of the IRA, exactly a century ago. His landing of arms from Germany in 1916 led to a charge of treason and the death penalty exacted by an inevitably anti-gay government.

It matters that Casement was gay, not least because it is unlikely, otherwise, he would have been such a rebel. (I reprinted those diaries in my book, including the never-before-or-since published 1911 diary which is the most seriously sexual.)

One of the complaints of those argue that the Casement Black Diaries are forged – and there are still a number who say so – is that homosexuals are trying to turn Casement into a gay icon.

This assertion infers that gay men are, as a class, historically minded, which has more than a grain of truth. The notion however that Casement has a cult following like James Dean or Marilyn Monroe is laughable.

He is no gay icon, as he did not address the matter in his career but he lived the life extensively, wrote it up more so and that is interesting. He did however become something of a religious icon because of his saintly looks.

Up close, everyone is human so it is unwise to admire too much – Oscar Wilde, WH Auden, Christopher Isherwood, James Baldwin, Harvey Milk, Peter Tatchell might be or become gay icons. But they are, or were, like us all, flawed, and sometimes less than attractive.

My personal icon would be the 1950s law reformer and Ulster Unionist MP, Harford Montgomery Hyde. He was also author of The Other Love, a History of Homosexuality in Britain and Ireland, which is still a book to consult although overtaken, where Ireland is concerned, by Brian Lacey’s 2008 work Terrible Queer Creatures – Homosexuality in Irish History.

Montgomery Hyde did more for us than most, and paid the price in career terms by being deselected for his North Belfast seat in 1959. This was as a result of being the most prominent MP in the House of Commons pressing for decriminalisation.

One of his opponents then was a young preacher, Ian Paisley, who came to prominence as leader of the Save Ulster From Sodomy campaign in the 1970s. His sidekick was Peter Robinson now our First Minister. We had our work cut out dealing with their disturbing and at times intimidating and extensive operation.

Being anti-gay or trying to keep us criminal rarely blighted political and legal careers. But we won. They didn’t. It is they who have changed, if grudgingly.

One becomes history after two generations, even if still alive. I know. I am just that. History.

But I still have a life in politics to a large degree, and to a smaller degree now in gay matters particularly in relation to policing and law reform. Others, in a range of organisations, do the bulk of the work.

We have continued to achieve significant victories around equality. One example is the election to councils of the first out lesbians and gays. These are people selected as candidates by their parties in full knowledge of their sexuality and then voted in by the electorate.

And one of those councillors, Andrew Muir, is currently the Mayor of North Down. He is from the Alliance Party, interestingly elected in part by his DUP colleagues.

And unnoticed, indeed unremarked, a gay member of the Ulster Unionist Party is one of its two representatives at the talks chaired by Dr Richard Haass and Professor Meghan O’Sullivan of the New York Council on Foreign Relations.

I – for it is me – have just come from two meetings and four hours with the American pair, tasked to try and find a way forward, with the five executive political parties, on the dividing issues of Flags, Parades and The Past. Hence my photo-opportunity suit and imperial purple tie.

To be an active Unionist does not mean you are an ex-gay, something some seem to believe.

Finally, coming up to date on campaigning, what are the current issues being addressed by local activists?

In truth, we are heading towards becoming a protected species and need fear little or no hostility from officialdom. This may not hold for ever, I would caution.

However the perennial issue of violence against LGBT people remains, as can be seen from the recent trial of the murderers of Andrew Lorimer in Lurgan and of Shaun Fitzpatrick in Dungannon. In Andrew’s case the sentences were pitiful and it is to be hoped that they are reviewed by the PPS. Indeed it would be of assistance if you were to consider writing to Barra McGrory (the head of the Public Prosecution Service) accordingly.

The fact remains that über-violence is meted out in these horrendous attacks. That will take decades to reduce as it involves one of the baser instincts in many males – fear of women. And of homosexuals – homophobia in the strictest sense of the word against gay men and lesbians. And Transphobia especially so, a greater treason, as can be seen from their casualty count world-wide.

Otherwise gay or equal marriage, the blood donation ban and changing of the adoption laws are the issues of today.

Each of these reforms can and will be advanced in the courts. Our local Assembly for complicated reasons can’t or won’t do the needful. It came into being and is, to a degree, supported by those who want to avoid changing such laws.

So be it. We can get round them but it is producing the same anger and rage as we felt in the 1970s. And the same productive resistance.

So far the Minster of Health has lost cases on adoption and blood donation. How he proceeds, if he does at all, remains a matter of concern.

Gay marriage which will soon be uniquely absent in these islands is a harder nut to crack. Reform will be a matter of trench warfare in the local courts while ultimate victory, in a successful Strasbourg case, may be a decade away.

So welcome to Belfast. Do enjoy your days and nights here, and the pleasures of the city, take care in relation to illegal pills being peddled which have caused ten deaths here in recent months, and thank you for your kind reception.

The seminar will examine the legitimacy and validity of the claims for criminalization of homosexuality and discrimination against LGBT individuals from within the Sharia, as practiced in modern Muslim societies. It demonstrates that several passages of the Qur’an acknowledge homosexuality and celebrate sexual diversity, and that it is therefore inaccurate to suggest that there is a prohibition of homosexuality in Islam and to advocate criminalization or adoption of discriminatory practices targeting sexual minorities. Furthermore, it is argued that religious views and societal practices that suppress queerness or discriminate against LGBT persons are not only incompatible with human rights law, but also contradict the fundamental principles of the Sharia. Contrary to most of the established scholarly approaches, the paper argues that Sharia neither prohibits nor punishes homosexuality. To the contrary, a genuine enforcement of the laws based upon the Sharia in contemporary Muslim societies requires absolute recognition and celebration of diverse gender identities.

Javaid Rehman is a Professor of Islamic Law and International Human Rights Law and is the Director of Brunel University Research Centre, Security, Human Rights and the Media (SHRM). He was Head of Brunel Law School, Brunel University (2009-2013). During 2002–2005, he was a Professor of international law at University of Ulster (Magee). Professor Rehman was a member of the International Bar Association (IBA) Taskforce on International Terrorism (2009–2011). Professor Rehman is a member of the executive council of the Asian Society of International law and is a member of the International Law Association (ILA), and acts as the co-rapporteur for the ILA’s Committee on International Law and Islamic Law. His authored books include International Human Rights Law (Longman 2009) and Islamic State Practices, International Law and the Threat from Terrorism (Hart publishing 2005).

RSVP: Emer Carlin e.carlin@ulster.ac.uk

https://nigra.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/logo2.png00ACOMSDavehttps://nigra.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/logo2.pngACOMSDave2013-11-29 15:22:262013-11-29 15:22:26'Is Green A Part Of The Rainbow? Sharia, Homosexuality, and LGBT Rights in the Muslim World: Some Critical Reflections'

Request received via email – My name is Declan Harvey. I am journalist with BBC News at Radio 1
Newsbeat.

A parliamentary debate is being held in Westminster on plans
to regulate psychotherapists in the UK. Geraint Davies MP, who proposed
the bill, is very concerned in particular about the practice of
so-called ‘gay-to-straight conversion therapy’ in the UK.

As I’m sure you are aware the ‘treatment’ has been debunked by all the
major bodies. It is deemed unsuccessful and harmful. However it does
still take place in the UK and thus obviously there is a (albeit small)
demand for the service.

Radio 1 Newsbeat reaches 41% of all 15-24 year olds in the UK and this
is obviously an issue that affects and interests them.

I am contacting your organisation to see if there is anyone there, or
that you know of, who may be willing to share their experiences (and
thus, I assume, concerns) about ‘reparative therapy’. I want to stress
from the outset that all contributions *_can be completely anonymous_*.
There are techniques we use regularly which protect our contributors’
identities.

It is vital to us that we hear from a real case study, as our younger
audience engage better with them, rather than experts, spokespeople or
analysts.

This is an important issue, which we are keen to cover /in the coming
week/ to tie in with the debate. If there is someone who you think may
be willing to take part please pass them my details. I would be happy to
take their call, if only to answer any questions they may have before
making a final decision. Essentially we are hoping to carry out a
pre-recorded interview.

As I said, their contributions can be 100% anonymous if they so wish.
There is no risk of identification to our audience, but it is important
to us their story is told.

Kindest thanks for your time already; I’m hopeful of hearing from you.

Outburst is showing A CENTURY LATER: LGBT – A HIDDEN HISTORY on Sat. 16th Nov 3.30pm in the Black Box- Green Room and its FREE (Northern Visions Dur: 40 Min).

Immediately following the screening will be an informal round table discussion, led by the LGBT History Archive Working Group in Belfast, around building an online public archive that shares the stories, memorabilia and key events that shaped, and continue to shape, our LGBT histories in Northern Ireland.

Please come along and let us know your views, and even better get involved with the project

Those who gathered to remember past LGBT people persecuted for their sexual orientation or gender identity. Photo: Simon Rea.

This morning about ten to eleven, a number of members of the LGBT community from the city of Belfast gathered to stand in solidarity and remembrance for all those in Germany, and all nations who lost their lives or were imprisoned for their sexual orientation or gender identity.

The short simple act of remembrance was instituted and organised in the past by PA MagLochlainn, who died about this time a year ago. This year, Andrew Smyth from Cara-Friend organised the event and we were pleased to support it.

We heard from a number of readings including an extract from The Men with the Pink Triangle by Heinz Heger which was read by John O’Doherty of The Rainbow Project.

The prisoners’ uniforms were marked with a coloured cloth triangle to denote their offence or origin.

…

Yellow for Jews, black for anti-socials, red for politicalise, purple for Jehovah’s Witnesses, green for criminals, blue for emigrants, pink for homosexuals, brown for gypsies.

The pink triangle, however, was about 2 or 3 centimetres larger that the others, so that we could be clearly recognised from a distance. (from The Men with the Pink Triangle)

A wreath in the shape of a pink triangle was laid at the Cenotaph by Jeff Dudgeon and Andrew Smyth and we stood together in silence to remember those that suffered at the hands of the Nazis and all who have suffered persecution because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

If you have experienced any hate crime in Belfast in the last few years, then please fill in the survey which is being conducted by Lisa Faulkner from the Jordanstown campus of the University of Ulster for Victim Support NI.

The aim of the survey is to map services / provisions for victims of hate crimes in Belfast and to capture their views and opinions of the services.